Happy Sweet Sixteenth birthday, Meghan!

My baby girl is 16 today! Seems like yesterday that she was the precious newborn in these photos...my cherished, long awaited little girl! We tried so hard and long to have Meghan...to conceive a child....2 1/2 years....but a lifetime of waiting....all I had ever wanted was to be a wife and mother, and the day that Meghan was born, both came true! I was a mother at long last, and she was such a precious little 6 lb bundle!

Meghan Mary 7 weeks old

Meghan 8 months old

Now this morning...the morning of her 16th birthday....time has flown way too fast! Just as precious to us, but how grown up she is...and all she, too, wants is to be a wife and mother someday....

The "Blueberries"! That is what Meghan and Ronnie call themselves...as Sara & Anna are the "Brownies"!
The long awaited "Hopechest"! Meghan has waited so long for this! This Lane cedar chest belonged to a friend of mine from church, and it was her mother's hopechest. It is a 1930's Lane. It was 70's burnt orange when we got it, and my mother, step-dad and I tried stripping it...but the orange had sunk into the wood...so we primed it, and painted it ivory....perfect! A friend of my mom's stencilled the ferns on it, and trimmed it with 14 karat gold paint as the finishing touch.

Meghan's first reaction! Tears!

Tears, excitement and laughter...this has been a secret for many, many months!
Along with the hopechest, we of course, put some things into it! Meghan has been collecting things for her hopechest for a few years now, and storing them in mine. It is almost half filled already and I have a feeling that, like me before her, she'll fill it, empty it, and fill it again and again before she finally gets married and moves it into her new home.

~Happy Sweet Sixteenth Birthday, our precious daughter!!!! We love you so very, very much!~

Love, Mum and Dad